Finally Moving Forward
by nooni19
Summary: After Emily rises from the dead, both her and Derek think about past regrets. Neither will admit anything, until a late night at Quantico proves that through tiredness, frustration and being stuck in a cupboard, love really can conquer all.


**Okay. So I wrote and posted my story Say Hello to Henry. There was a guest reviewer that said about a story where Morgan and Prentiss got trapped and had to confess their love. Great idea, but where to trap them? So this is what I decided. I hope that reviewer sees this. ( : PM me any one shot ideas, and I'll try to write them. Though, technically I should be studying… oh well.**

The bull pen on the BAU floor of the FBI building was desolate. There was not one other person in sight. Not even the goddess of all things tech who could stay awake for hours due to all of the coffee and energy drinks she craved. Even the boss, work-a-holic Hotch had headed home.

That left only two agents. Supervisory Special Agents Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan.

The duo had a rock solid relationship. They had been partnered for a long time now. And as such, they knew each other like the back of their own hand.

Years before at a work do, where they had a little bit too much alcohol they had taken their friendship further – with a kiss.

It wasn't the end of the world. They were grown-ups. Able to forget. More so, able to tell each other that they had forgotten and that it was no big deal.

But since that drunken, steamy kiss, where Derek had taken the time to get a little handsie, neither could forget the spark that had been ignited.

For years they had attempted to keep it smouldering, and not erupting into flames and they had succeeded. But as of late, each agent was questioning their lives.

Emily Prentiss had recently risen from the dead. This made Derek even more confused. He had gone through all of the stages of grieving. He regretted not taking things further. Making the most of what could have been. Every day for months he sat thinking about how if he had one more chance he'd take it. Then Emily comes back to them, to him. And what does he do? Not a darn thing.

He let things go back to normal. Nothing had changed. Though, he was watching her closely. He didn't want to take anything about her for granted. Not one thing.

Emily was the same. She wished more than anything whilst she was in hiding that she could fix her past mistakes and think about her happiness more than her career. But once she got back nothing changed. However, she did notice some longing looks from Derek, but put that down to him being glad that she was alive.

It was late and they were the only two at work surrounded by empty space. They had no reason to go home. No one to go home to.

So why not stay, get a heads up on paper work, and spend some valuable time together?

They thought it would be fun to blu-tack Reid's desk drawer shut. As well as give him a good half of their paper work.

Emily was about to call it a night, when she accidently knocked over her coffee mug. Thankfully it was empty, but it still shattered sending shards everywhere. She managed to pick the big pieces up, but needed the vacuum for the small fragments.

Wearily she headed up to the cleaner's cupboard.

The door was a bit iffy. Jamming and what not. You didn't want to shut the door either if you were alone. The handle was a bit wobbly.

She headed on in, and realised quickly that she couldn't get the vacuum out, because it was well stuck behind other cleaning accessories. Too tired to care, she called Derek over for help. He was only too happy to oblige.

In the hurry to get in and help Emily, he completely ignored what she was saying. His mind too focused on giving her help.

It wasn't until she was yelling at him, and pushing passed him, in a last ditch attempt to get to the door did he realise what was going on.

The man who had only wanted to aid in getting her home quickly had ended up causing her more grief.

She shrieked in frustration as it slammed. What made it worse was the sound of the door knob on the other side thudding on the floor and tinkling across the catwalk.

This was not something that she wanted at such a late hour.

Frustrated she turned around to look at Morgan "Are you deaf? I said be careful! Now look what you've done. I just want to go home!"

"I'm sorry Princess! I didn't hear you."

"Yeah, fat lot of good you are." She told him as she used her hands to push the well-built man into the wall nearest him.

"Woah! No need to get snappy. I'll just kick the door down."

She turned and looked at him. Tiredness made her cranky, and made her venomous. And he had to admit, when she wasn't saying things that hurt him somewhere inside, she looked hot.

He brushed off his top and saw a few drops of blood. Immediately he looked her up and down wondering where it had come from. Then he looked at her hand, to see the blood trickling from her palm, down her fingertips and onto the floor.

He moved closer to her, hands up showing he was sorry and asked "Emily, can I look at your hands?"

She turned, eyes red and droopy showing her exhaustion. "Why?"

He didn't respond simply took her hands in his. Turning them over to reveal the palms he saw a cut in the middle of her left hand. "Princess, you're hurt."

She looked at him and simply shrugged. "Must have been from the mug."

He tenderly held her hurt hand in his, brushing his thumb gently over her cold fingers and reached into his pocket with his other hand, pulling out a cloth.

He placed that on the cut to stop the bleeding. Holding it firmly in place with the fingers of one hand, he moved his other to the upper side of her hand which was currently facing the floor.

Holding her hand in such a caring way made all the feelings he had bubble to the surface. His regrets, his hopes, his wishes for the future.

Emily's emotions were going crazy. She was pissed that Derek got them stuck, but kind of glad. She hadn't felt such an intimate connection like this since before her run-in with Doyle. And whilst it was a simple hand hold, it was more than she had had in a long time.

Derek moved one hand to her face, and cupping her cheek lifted her head up so that he could look her in the eye.

That one act. That one gesture spoke volumes. It showed her he hadn't forgotten.

They stared at each other for a long time until Derek could feel her blood starting to seep through the cotton.

As his hand lingered holding hers he finally plucked up the courage "Princess, I-"

"Don't Derek, we can't, you know that." She told him harshly.

"That's it though…" he told her "…who says we can't. I thought about you every day while you were 'dead'. Thought about all the mistakes I made by you. The way I want my life to be. The way I want to share it with you. I love our friendship. You are my best friend. But honestly, I can't do this for much longer. You may think we can't do this. But I _know _that I need to. That we need to. Please."

He hadn't managed to hide the desperation that was in his voice.

Emily's shields very rarely came down. Let alone long enough to let another person in.

"I…" she started, but couldn't finish.

"You…?" he asked, as he used his thumb to caress her cheek.

"I…" she pulled back and stared straight at him.

"I think… I think that I…" she allows tears to fill her eyes as she moved forward and began gripping Morgan's shirt and pulling him closer.

Derek was shocked that she was allowing him to see her hurting as she was. To see the vulnerability.

She leant forward, and allowed her forehead to rest against his chest.

Unsure as to what was going through her head, he lifted his arms and encompassed her in a hug. When she didn't pull away, he gripped her tighter, holding onto her hoping that he never had to let her go.

The pair stood together silently. Neither moved, neither spoke. Simply feeling at peace being in each other's arms. Emily lifted her head, and he saw the tears running down her pale cheeks. He knew what she wanted to say. He really, really wanted her to be able to say it.

"Emily… you know that I'll always be here for you."

She had been so badly hurt. She had needed to pull away from everything and everyone to survive what happened to her because of Ian Doyle. But he didn't want that for her anymore.

She no longer had to run or hide. He wanted her to know that she could run to him when things became too much. So he decided to take the first step. The leap of faith.

He lowered his face so that their foreheads were touching, and said it "Emily, I love you."

She knew that it was going to happen, that he was going to say it. But no amount of mentally preparing for it could get her ready for how amazing it sounded when the words left his mouth.

A few more tears began to fall before she responded "Derek, I love you too."

And with those words, nothing else mattered anymore. The two of them could make it through whatever was necessary. Because from that time, for the rest of their lives, they could find that safe placed each craved. The sanctuary neither had had previously was finally found, as they held each other in their arms.


End file.
